How to Score High Quality (full sized) Samples

For a few years now I have been scoring completely free items in exchange for a review or endorsement.  I have gotten many of the items that I regularly use in our home through this process. Some of my favorite freebies have been, organic natural body washes(ApotheCare, Thrive, and similar brands), make up (Flower, Milk, Maybelline, Benefit and much more) , skin care products(Lancer, Perricone MD, Olay, Secret are just a few), a twin memory foam mattress for my boy, a humidifier, suitcases, clothes, and endless food and dessert products.  I am typically asked about how I find places to request these samples and what needs to be done to get them. There are a few things that have led to the quality and amount of things I get. The number one thing that I can not stress enough is a quality review which typically includes pictures or video. But I will get back to that later. There are a few steps that I have followed to get to where I am now. Please note that this takes some time to build relationships with companies so they start sending you better products. The more consistent you are in providing what the companies ask for the more they will come back to you with better products!

A Few of the beauty items I have recently received from various sites. 

Okay your wait is over, here are the steps

1: Where to look for free high quality products. 

Not everywhere you look promising free products is worth it or legit. I refuse to spend hours a week on requesting products and taking surveys in hopes of getting a free product. I want the process to be easy and seamless. 

• Places like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great if your interested in free small products and free coupons. My Friend at Kouponing with Katie posts a lot of these on her site and in her Facebook group!
• PinchMe - This site does free samples the second Tuesday of every month which I love. But I also get exclusive samples from them often. I get high end full sized products through them every other month or so. The most recent are the two pictured. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Smiley 360 - This site has been good to me in the past with lots of products that relate to me being a parent and a homemaker. This site is in sort of a transition so my return from here has been less lately but I hope they get better soon. The more you interact though the more opportunities you get. 
• Crowdtap - I love this site! I get a lot of my samples through them. They have quick little questions that you answer then they give you sample options based off your answers. ALSO while you answer the questions you earn points. EVERY question has a point assigned. 1 point equals 1 cent. Many of the questions are worth 20 or more points. Once you get 500 points you can cash out for a $5 gift card. You can save up for bigger ones. I usually cash out for $10-$15 in Amazon cards. They have many options though like Sephora, ULTA, Walmart, Target, Playstation etc. The more you complete all the questions the more opportunities you will have to get samples. 
• Influenster - This is where a ton of my beauty and skin care products come from. This is a review site where you write reviews and can read millions of others. I love the advice I get on this site and also find their surveys to be quick and easy. You do have to connect social media to your account to share products they send to you. But don't worry if you do not have a big following. I do not have a bunch of followers and still get great products, mainly because of the quality reviews I leave. 
• BzzAgent - This site has undergone a complete transformation but its worth signing up for now. Mainly because they have partnered with my ultimate place for free products (remember the mattress I mentioned the partner sent me this).  The sign up process is quick and easy once you connect your social media just wait to get the e-mails. I have gotten a few and am excited to see this one grow. 
• ViewPoints - This company is the ultimate best! I get so many high quality products from them! I have gotten hair driers worth over $100, A mattress, a robot vacuum, a humidifier, thousands worth in food products, high end makeup and skin care, clothes, shoes, you name it I have gotten something about it. This is strictly done through e-mail. I get about 20-30 quick (5 minute max) surveys a month from them and fill them out. In a week or two I find out what products I was selected for. I usually get about 3 or 4 a month. They send you an e-mail with the link to review the product and you put your review in and you are done. This was the hardest one to get started with because it took the most work. You need an account on Viewpoints website, you need to write a few reviews and sign up for their e-mails and fill out the surveys when they send them. But after working with this company for 4 years it is by far the best bang for your time!

  

  Got this awesome humidifier through ViewPoints. 

2. Follow through with your promise

I can not say this enough. FOLLOW THROUGH!! When you accept a sample of a product you are accepting that you will in turn give an honest review. I have not written all 5 star reviews, nor would I tell you to either. Be honest in your review but write it. Be consistent in following through. The more you are reliable the more you will be picked for products. 

Completely free dinner thanks to View Points!
This was two different samples.  

3. Take the picture. 

Most companies want pictures also. Take them! I don't do anything fancy, I use my iPhone and just make sure the picture is not cluttered and that it is well lit. A picture with your review helps it stand out! It takes a few minutes to set up and do. Most of the review I post are from my phone anyway so no need to worry about transferring the picture to a new device either.

One of my recent Crowdtap products.

4. Give detail

A good review is about 300-500 words. Give details. What do you like about the product? How do you use it? Would you spend what it costs to purchase it? Be honest. Don't say what you think they want to hear. Say what is true!

5. Invest the time to set up good profiles. 

My last piece of major advice is to fully and completely set up your profile. The more complete your profile is the more that companies can send you products. It does take time at first. So I would only focus on one or two sites and make sure everything is set up. Once the initial set up is done everything should just be filling out quick interest surveys that take little time.  

"Man Kit" from View Points that featured Dollar Shave Club. 

7 Easy Meals for the Week

Since my last post I have been asked a few questions multiple times. I want to address these. So in today’s post I will be talking about quick easy inexpensive dinner ideas. My family is pretty adventurous when we eat. But we still eat a lot of yummy meals that can appeal to anyone. Both Mike and I also love to cook and consider ourselves foodies. So it is not weird for us to constantly be testing out new recipes in the kitchen. Because of this we have found lots of delicious meals that cost us next to nothing.

I will say that there are a few basics we always have around that make cooking simpler. These items are not purchased regularly and we consider them in our “stockpile” prices when we are restocking our pantry or freezer. These items include but are not limited to: Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, Sesame Oil, Olive Oil, Vinegars (Red wine, rice, balsamic, apple cider, and white), and basic seasonings. We also always have some produce around. These will either be fresh or chopped and frozen. These items include: onions, green onions, garlic, celery, and bell peppers. I also make our own broth. I make this by saving and freezing the veggie scraps and chicken bones when we have them, and when I have enough I use my pressure cooker to make broth. I then portion it out and freeze it for later use. Our pantry also almost always has dried pastas(both regular and gluten free), rice(white and brown) some flour and sugar(white and brown).  Having these basic items on hand helps make preparing meals quick and keeps your weekly costs down because they are already in your pantry. Having a good pantry is key to being able to prepare different meals. But you do not need to build it all at once. Take your time and purchase when the prices are right.

Now onto the recipes my family enjoys!

The number one requested recipe in our home has to be the Korean Beef Bowls. I almost always have everything on hand and it only takes the amount of time to cook the rice. Sometimes I make it with cauliflower rice for the adults and brown rice for the kids. Others its over jasmine rice. Also you can make it spicy or not. We like it spicy so I add a squirt of Siracha to the mix.  We follow this recipe.

We also do a lot of tacos in our house. The kids request tacos for “Taco Tuesday” almost every week. I mix it up by doing things like crockpot chicken tacos or crock pot fajitas. Also when we get carne asada on sale we make that. This also makes great leftovers and I usually make a bake out of them later in the week for quick grab and go lunches!

I make all kinds of meatballs. I do this when I get cheap ground meat. I pre-make them and freeze them for later cooking. These are simple and quick and so easy to change up! You can eat them by themselves or on sandwiches or on pasta.  Typically I will sear them on the stove and then throw them in the slow cooker with our sauce of choice. Some non marinara sauce ideas are: Sweet and Sour, BBQ sauce, Honey Mustard, Blue Cheese dip and Buffalo Sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Sliders is one of my favorite. I eat it on a salad or GF wrap since I am Gluten Free. But the rest of the family loves the hawaiian rolls, or even a wrap! This is simply some chicken in the crockpot with some onion and Franks Buffalo Sauce. And some Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing to serve it with! Here is the recipe!

Slow cooker Beef and Potato Au Gratin is another family favorite. It makes a lot and also is good leftover. We make breakfast burritos with it by adding in some scrambled eggs the next morning! Get it here.

I use my pressure cooker all the time. And one of our favorite ways is to cook a whole chicken. This cuts down the cooking time to about 30 minutes and can serve your whole family. We usually serve this with carrots, rice, and a salad. I loosely follow this recipe.

We eat sausage and peppers often also. Sometimes I will chop the sausages up into bite size pieces and we eat it over pasta with a side salad. While others we grill the sausages and eat them on buns with the peppers and onions grilled on top. We stock up and freeze them when they go on sale at the market. They cook quickly and if you do your chopping of the peppers and onions ahead of time it's a relatively quick and simple dinner.

Meal Planning Helps Save Money

     I am going to start with planning dinners. Dinners tend to be the most needed to plan and save us the most money when they are planned. I also have a loose plan for breakfasts and lunches but that is more of I have the ingredients on hand you make the meal with what we have type of thing.
To start meal planning I always start by “shopping” my house first. I take a quick inventory of what’s in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. I then figure out what needs to be used and what meals I can mostly make with what I have at home. This will get easier as you start building a stockpile and start learning what you have available. I then check the sales of the stores I regularly shop at. If I see chicken is on sale that’s what we are eating a few days the coming week.

     When I start to plan the meals I usually do it right after lunch on Mondays. I plan through the next Monday.  Its when I have the quiet time and I am full so I am not making the mistake of hunger shopping/planning. It really is true to never grocery shop when hungry! I usually also can shop on Tuesdays or Wednesdays so planning it before helps.  Find a time that works best for you. My SO likes to be involved in the process because he loves to cook. So I will discuss with him also and ask if he cares about anything specific the coming week. He usually chooses the meal for his days off.

     My meal plan is usually made up of 4-5 meals I KNOW my family likes, 1 leftover or make your own dinner night and 1 new recipe a week. Otherwise we get bored and that’s when we go out to eat or shop unnecessarily. I pull up Pinterest(click the link for my profile) and have my recipe binder nearby. The binder isn’t necessary but helps. I did not have this at first, I slowly built it as we found recipes we liked. I printed them and put them in there. I start with what my family loves and what we have on hand. I typically have chicken, ground beef, and some kind of fish every week. I also look at our schedule for the week and plan easy meals on nights I know we will need it. And leftovers/make your own are on nights I know I wont want to cook. This prevents the quick stop at the drive-thru or the take out pizza on the way home, because I know I have something quick and easy to make or already done in the crockpot! The leftover nights also just help us not waste them because its scheduled to be eaten. Either write out or type out your plan. Unless its written down it will be hard to follow. I have a cute board I got from HomeGoods. This also lets the rest of the family know what to expect!

     Right now our meal plan is:
Monday: Korean Beef Bowls served with a side of stir fry veggies and a salad
Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken Tacos (put chicken in the crockpot for 6hrs with a jar of salsa) Have all the taco fixings along with rice and beans.
Wednesday: One Skillet Mexican Beef and rice. (serve with toppings from night before and also beans)
Thursday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders with a salad (mine was in a gluten free wrap)
Friday: Hamburgers with homemade fries
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Pressure Cooker Whole chicken dinner
Monday: Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs with rice and salad 

     I make sure to defrost most of the week up front so If I need to switch a night I can. But it also helps that my family keeps a monthly calendar in google calendar and I write it out on the whiteboard calendar in my kitchen each month so I know what each day looks like. I plan Leftovers when I know I have a busy day and the last thing I will want to do is cook! I also really use my crockpot and pressure cooker to make life easier. Especially in SoCal in the summer where it's typically over 100 and the last thing I want to do is heat up the house.

     My family is pretty adventurous so its typical to see things like veal, deer, lamb, duck, seafood on the menu. The menu above is mainly because we needed to use up the 7lbs of ground meat (grass fed) I got from Aldi along with the 3 pkgs of chicken I got on coupon from Target. The whole chicken was also from Target on Coupon. I like to stock up on meats when they are clearancing them and then freeze for later.

     Because of that this week we only bought produce and staples like milk and eggs since I had the proteins already and planned to use them! I know not every family likes what we like, but I do believe anyone who really wants to can meal plan and save money when shopping.

Please let me know of any questions you have or anything you would like explained more.

BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCHES AND DINNERS

How We Make Lunch and Dinner Easy During School

     During school time it gets really hectic around here. With the kids in two different schools, myself in school and Mike working our family seems to be on so many different schedules. I have tried to make that easier by stream lining meals during the school week here. 

     First breakfast! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but that does not mean things need to be complicated. I help make breakfast time easy by setting out what can be set out the night before. If something needs to stay refrigerated or frozen I gather the items together for easy grab and go mornings. We need to be up and out of the door no later than 6:50 in the mornings here so quick is key. I spend a few hours about once a month cooking and freezing things like pancakes, waffles, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, english muffin bread etc. Pre-making all of these items lets the kids make their own breakfasts in the morning while I get ready. 

     What caused the most problems in our mornings was packing lunches. This problem caused delays and fights every morning. This lasted until we decided to have the kids make their own lunches. Now they have to make their main dish and pack what they can the night before. They mainly pack left overs and sandwiches or salads. Left overs are packed in a Thermos and kept warm. These are the containers we use. Salads and sandwiches are packed in the containers that came with their lunch boxes. We have these we bought from Costco.  A good lunch bag and containers are key to a good lunch that your kids will eat. If the food gets yucky before lunch they will just throw it away. 

     To make packing lunch easier I spend 30 minutes to an hour on Sunday evening pre-packing snacks like fruit, veggies, crackers, chips, anything that isn't individually packed in snack sized zip top bags. This allows for easy grab and go snacks and it keeps the kids from taking way more than they can eat. I also look to see what we have in the fridge that needs to be used up. I make a list and post it on the fridge for the kids to see. This lets them know what is available to use. Once an item is gone they simply scratch it off the list. There are also rules to packing a lunch. They are allowed one treat and as many other healthy sides as they want. I have found by letting them pack their own lunches they have stopped over packing and started actually eating their lunches. The lunches are not gourmet and are far simpler than I would have made for them. But they eat it and look forward to lunch because they packed what they wanted. 

     Dinner is a crazy time around here like I am sure it is at your house. When I get home after all the activities the last thing I want to do is cook anything.  But we must eat right?! So I decided to make dinner easy during the weeknights. I do this by doing a few things that streamline dinner. The one main thing I do is meal plan. I cannot stress enough how meal planning saves us time and money. I also spend time on Sunday while I am pre-packaging lunch items to do any chopping or prepping for the week ahead meal wise. It usually only takes about an hour and it saves me during the week so much! The meals that are planned for the week are meals from our freezer that are defrost, heat, and serve meals or slow cooker meals. A few of the dinners will be quick 30 minutes or less one pot/pan meals. Being able to come home to most of the work being done for dinner is so refreshing.

     If there is one thing I have learned the past few years is that planning ahead makes things so much easier.

BACK TO SCHOOL IS HERE

BACK TO SCHOOL IS HERE!!!

Back to school time is possibly one of my favorite times of the year! I love school supply shopping and all of the fun things that come with a new school year. I love the anticipation of new teachers and classes. But with all the excitement I also know it is important to set myself and the kids up for success. That means having a plan in place for those hectic mornings. 

Our plan this is year is to get the kids involved more than years past. The kids will be responsible for waking themselves up with an alarm like normal. They will make their own breakfasts and pack their lunches. Also in the mornings they are responsible for feeding and walking the dogs. To make this happen smoothly we will start preparing the night before. After baths and before bed the kids will pack and make their lunches, set their backpacks up and put them by the front door, charge their chromebooks for class, and lay out their uniforms for the next morning. I will do the same for all of my school supplies and lunch/dinner. So when we all get up in the mornings most things are done and there is no running around looking for a missing paper I needed to sign or the forever missing left shoe. I also went a step further this year and pre-made and froze about 2 months worth of breakfasts for easy quick meals in the morning.(Another post on school morning breakfasts and lunches). 

Mornings are not perfect around here by any-means. But they are a lot easier when we start the night before. Let me know what your plans are to make your mornings a success this year! 

Summer Cooking

So Summer has started. And today was 115 where I am for the first official day of Summer. That means the last thing I want to do is spend time in the kitchen with a hot oven or hot stove. Which means I pull out my Crockpots and the freezer meals I have stocked up on. Through the years we have tried many different recipes. Here are a few of the ones we love. Sorry no pictures as these meals tend to be on those quick nights and I am not thinking about pictures. If I take some I will update it again with the pictures.

CrockPot French Dip Sandwiches:
I honestly don't remember where this recipe came from. It's either Pinterest or my mom. I just know it by heart we have made it and loved it so many times. I brown the roast and start the cooker in the mornings and its done by dinner time with only about 20 mins of work total. This meal is great with a green salad or your favorite potato or macaroni salad.

Ingredients:
1 - 3-4 lb. chuck roast
Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 tsps olive oil
¼ C soy sauce
¼ C water
4 whole black peppercorns
2 C beef broth
½ tsp dried, crushed rosemary
½ tsp dried thyme
1 TBSP minced onion
2 tsp minced garlic
6-8 french rolls
6-8 slices of cheese, we like swiss

Instructions:
Remove excess fat from roast. Season all sides with Montreal Steak Seasoning (I make my own)
Brown in heavy pan with 2 tsp olive oil. Brown on both sides
Place in crock pot
Mix together soy sauce, beef broth, water, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion
Pour mixture over roast.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 5-6. Cook until tender and easy to shred.
Shred with a fork and the place on sandwich buns.
Strain remaining juice and use for dipping (if you like a thicker sauce put strained sauce in a pan and sprinkle with Wondra[magic flour] then cook till desired thickness)

Slow cooker Tater-tot Casserole:
The family loves it. I love how simple it is to make. I goes well by itself or with some fresh veggies. I found this recipe here.

Ingredients:
1 (32 oz.) bag frozen tater tots
1 (3 oz.)bag bacon pieces
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
salt & pepper, to taste.

Instructions:
Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Layer half of the frozen tater tots on the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the bacon pieces. Now top with 1/3 of the shredded cheese. Add diced chicken on top.  Season with salt & pepper. Now add 1/3 of the bacon pieces and another 1/3 of shredded cheese. Put the rest of the frozen tater tots on top. Finish with the remaining 1/3 cheddar cheese and remaining 1/3 of bacon pieces. Pour 3/4 cup milk all over the top. Cover and cook on low about 4-6 hours.

Lemon Garlic Chicken:
We like this recipe with brown rice and fresh veggies microwave steam packs are great for this! This is one of those recipes I premake in a ziplock and just defrost and dump in the crock pot for a super simple dinner. All I have to do at the end is heat up veggies and make the rice.

Ingredients:
chicken (I use bonless skinless breasts but any boneless cut will work)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. of olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. pepper

Instructions:
Spray slow cooker with nonstick spray. Dump all ingredients in slow cooker. cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Easiest Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos:
Everyone here loves these. I have cooked this for years. I see similar recipes all over Pinterest. This is nothing new but seriously worth mentioning because its really yummy and even simpler to throw together. This is another make ahead defrost and dump recipe.

Ingredients:
Chicken, any mix of bonless skinless about 1lb feeds my family of 4
Your favorite Salsa ( I love Ralph's Private Selection Medium Cilantro Salsa)
1 can corn
1 can black beans(whole)
Tortillas and any taco toppings you want

Instructions:
Spray slow cooker. Dump all in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve as tacos or as build your own taco salads.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken:
This is even easier than the recipe above and can be used in so many ways, sandwiches, in a salad, by itself. We love sandwiches. This can be served with typical BBQ sides like potato salad, chips, fries, corn etc. This is another make ahead defrost and dump recipe.

Ingredients:
Chicken (Again any boneless skinless cut will work)
Your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce.
Salt/Pepper to taste

Instructions:
Spray slow cooker. Dump all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred and serve.

Rimmel Review

Thanks to Influenster and their Frosty VoxBox I was able to try Rimmel's Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner and Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. The eyeliner went well with all the other eye makeup that I use already. It gave smooth lines and was easy to use even for my novice makeup skills. The remover worked ok. I still needed to use my regular wipes after to remove the remaining makeup. I really like the eyeliner and will purchase new colors again. I think I will skip the makeup remover and stick with my normal brand.